714: Knowing What You’re Trying to Do with Geoff Cook Founder and Partner of the Meet Group

Geoff Cook is a serial entrepreneur. He is the CEO and co-founder of The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET). The Meet Group started out as a single brand, which Geoff grew to over $30 million in revenue before merging with a public company in a $100 million deal. Since then, Geoff has led the company to acquire three additional social apps -- Andreessen Horowitz backed Skout for $55 million in Q4 2016 and if(we) for $60 million in Q1 2017 – to become The Meet Group. Recently, Geoff announced it had executed a definitive agreement to acquire LOVOO, the #1 social dating app in German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland, and Austria), for $70 million in cash. The Meet Group earned $76.1 million in 2016, representing 34% year over year growth. The company has guided to over $120 million in revenue in 2017. Geoff has won a number of awards, including Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Philadelphia region in 2011. Other awards include Deloitte Technology Fast 500, #3 Fastest Growing Company in North America; Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania (2012 and 2011); AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies (2011); Power Book, Global Dating Top 100 (2017). Geoff previously founded EssayEdge and ResumeEdge from a Harvard University dorm, which he then sold to the Thomson Corporation in 2002. He lives in Princeton, NJ, with his wife, two daughters, and son.
“Get started, a lot of times you see people who just didn’t start and the lesson I’ve seen and maybe the only thing I’d do differently is actually start something and I think that in the 2 businesses I’ve really done, one got started as a student and ended up selling for a good exit and did exactly the same thing the entire time and then the second one which was the first and second thing that I thought the business was it turned out not to be and then it turned out to be the 3rd thing and doing that for some time” …[Listen for More]
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